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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Thursday, 5 August 2004) . . Page.. 3486 ..

If that had happened at the time, back in February 2003, or in August 2003 when the report was tabled, we might have been dealing with this issue a year ago. We might have been looking at these things a year ago. Some of the recommendations that the committee made were almost identical to recommendations made in the Vardon inquiry. It seems that we had to wait another year before the action that all of us are so desperate to be seen taking was actually taken.

MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism, Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming, and Acting Minister for Planning) (11.16): I want to touch on one issue, that is, the report in today’s Canberra Times. Unless I am misled or mistaken the article in today’s Canberra Times grossly misrepresents the role Ms Dundas played at that committee hearing. The only explanation that could be given is that it was bad reporting, that bad information was given to the reporter, or that it involved a bit of both.

I just had a look at the relevant portion of the Hansard that refers to the issue that was tangentially dealt with at the hearing. Ms Dundas moved the committee onto a different topic. Anyone reading the paper today could be excused for believing that Ms Dundas questioned the minister and her officers intently on additional issues that emerged much later and to which nobody has referred for months. If Ms Dundas played a direct role in that misrepresentation and, as a consequence, the position of an earnest young minister was completely misrepresented, the record ought to be put straight. The Democrats came into existence under the banner of keeping the bastards honest. I would have grave concerns if there had been any dishonesty on their part. If there is any moral courage here today the record must be corrected.

MR CORNWELL (11.19): As a member of the committee I wish to show that, apart from the unedifying picture of people scrapping like wild dogs or jackals over some corpse or over who has exposed this issue—

Mr Quinlan: “Jackal” is a good word. Well done!

MR CORNWELL: It is a good word when it is used in relation to certain people who attacked the story in the Canberra Times. We have to remember that the role of the media is perfectly legitimate and justified. The media is about reporting. It is the minister’s problem if he does not like to see this issue on the front page of the papers. I would like to mention another matter.

Mr Quinlan: Is it right or wrong?

MR CORNWELL: Would Mr Quinlan give me an opportunity to contribute to this debate?

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MR CORNWELL: The other issue that I find interesting relates to the desperate efforts by this government to push back this problem. As my colleague Mrs Burke said earlier, the problems that we addressed in this report occurred during this government’s watch. With a change of government, anyone taking over a ministry assumes responsibility for

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